DTE Energy shareholders were met by protesters at their annual meeting in Detroit Thursday.
Hundreds of people demonstrated outside the company’s Detroit headquarters. And inside, several interrupted CEO Gerard Anderson as he tried to run the meeting.
Protesters shouted for DTE to “Pay its fair share!”
They were talking about the fact that DTE was named as one of the nation’s “Dirty 30” companies in a recent report—one that paid more in lobbying expenses than federal income taxes from 2008 to 2010.
Demonstrators also protested the utility’s shutoff policies. The utility shut off service to 200,000 in its southeast Michigan service area in 2011.
That number has more than doubled over the past five years.
Demonstrators also criticized DTE’s continued reliance on coal-fired power, rather than renewable energy.
Protester Thomas Reinke said renewable power sources are now both cleaner and less expensive than coal.
“We’re getting poorer and poorer every day, and we’re being forced to pay high costs of utilities that could be offset by wind and solar, or other types of renewable energy,” said Reinke, who says he owns a small, residential renewable energy business.
DTE officials announced Thursday that they’re looking for more wind energy suppliers.
“DTE Energy is seeking approximately 100 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy from Michigan-based wind projects that will be operating by the end of 2013. This solicitation is part of DTE Energy's plan to meet Michigan's renewable energy goals,” the company said in a written statement.
By state law, they must provide 10% of their power from renewable sources by 2015.
As for the tax-dodging accusations, a DTE spokesman counters that the utility has paid more $1 billion in taxes since 2008, mostly to state and local governments.
